Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Books & Poetry


Carrels

“Had we but world enough, and time, This coyness, lady, were no crime.” 
― Andrew Marvell

The sight of books wearing colored papers like party hats
Led me to meditate on the distance between the books
And the stacks.  The time is spent in carrels, and that's
not inconsequential for the readers whose studious looks
are defeated by the the books piled on the sidelines -
The ones with the colorful favors  just beyond their spines.

Readers cherish the time spent perusing books in 
the Babylon of culture that houses folios. But is it sin
to while away the moments of your life in another world?
The Borgesian maze that is home to ideas that are furled
in books of all sizes and languages lures too often-times.
While entry fees are paid with the cost of missed deadlines.


- from Preludes of the Mind (2012), James Henderson

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